Impacts of Design/Information Technology on Project Outcomes.
Impacts of Design/Information Technology on Project
Outcomes.
(592 K)
Thomas, S. R.
NIST GCR 99-786; 46 p. Januray 2000.
Sponsor:
National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, MD
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.
Telephone:
1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000;
Fax: 703-605-6900.
Website: http://www.ntis.gov
Order number: PB2000-101952
Keywords:
information technology; design/information technology;
practice use; performance norms; cost benefits; schedule
compression; economic value; project outcomes;
technology implementation; bar coding; integrated
database; design technology
Abstract:
This study sponsored by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) represents a
collaborative effort by industry, government, and
academia to evaluate the use of design/information
technology (D/IT) and to relate the degree of use to
project performance. The study was accomplished by the
Construction Industry Institute (CII) staff using data
from its Benchmarking and Metrics (BM&M) database and
feedback from on-site interviews with representatives of
select high performing projects. The CII database
reflects the actual project experiences from more than
700 projects from 64 member companies and organizations.
Data in the database has been systematically collected
during annual data collection cycles since 1996 to
support the benchmarking of construction industry
performance norms and to measure the degree of practice
use. Only US domestic projects were selected for this
study and data were segregated by owners and
contractors. Contractor data were further screened by
selecting only those projects for which contractors
performed both design and construction activities. The
study consists of three tasks. The first was a detailed
statistical analysis of select projects in the CII
database. This analysis produced baseline measures of
performance and D/IT use and then established the
correlation between these measures to assess the
economic value of using the technologies. For the second
research task, a set of projects that excelled in the
use of D/IT and that scored high on performance measures
was identified. These "exemplary" projects provided a
basis for further in-depth analyses through on-site
interviews with key project representatives. Common
characteristics of these projects were summarized via
anecdotal information and included in this report as a
set of lessons learned. This report, which synthesizes
findings of the statistical analyses and on-sight
interviews, is the product of the third study task. The
results of this study establish that projects benefit
from D/IT use. Both owners and contractors can expect
overall project cost savings of approximately 1.4
percent and construction cost savings closer to 4
percent by increasing the use of D/IT. For owners there
is clear evidence of schedule compression as well.
Although the statistical analyses do not support
schedule compression benefits for contractors, findings
from the exemplary project interviews provide anecdotal
support. According to these interviews, D/IT use
contributed to faster shop fabrications resulting in
reductions in overall construction time. Additional
schedule benefits were reported by those using D/IT for
computer modeling, which led to reductions in rework,
further shortening required construction time.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899